Meet Pilchard
Meet Pilchard is an episode of The CBeebies House Show. Plot The Grown-ups in the CBeebies House finally meet Pilchard the Big Purple Dinosaur for the first time. Background Since Pilchard the Dinosaur made his first appearance in the premiere of The CBeebies House Show, This is Britain, the grown-ups had thought that Pilchard was just an imaginary friend of Dodge T. Dog's. Dodge would often try to arrange for them to see Pilchard, face-to-face, but Pilchard would always be gone by the time they finally chose to look at him. After years of not seeing him and many near-misses, and in a storyline that first kicked off in Pilchard: The Case, the grown-ups finally got to see Pilchard for the first time in this episode. Pilchard's performer, Ronnie Le Drew, revealed that Pilchard was finally introduced to the presenters mainly due to a string of high profile and sometimes graphic stories of pedophilia and sexual abuse of children on shows. The writers felt that by having the grown-ups refuse to believe Dodge despite the fact that he was telling the truth, they were scaring children into thinking that their parents would not believe them if they had been sexually abused and that they'd just be better off remaining silent. In addition, during Le Drew's explanation, Cat Sandion uttered the words "Trowbridge pre-school," a reference to reports of sexual abuse at Trowbridge's Staverton Primary and John of Gaunt. Segments * Scene 1 - Dodge watches a Pilchard VHS tape involving Pilchard singing with Jacob and Ella. Pilchard himself arrives, and Dodge reveals his plan to finally show the grown-ups that Mr. Pilchard exists. A flashback montage is shown of the grown-ups thinking Pilchard is imaginary and Dodge insisting that he's real. Dodge lets Pilchard in on his plan, which entails him yelling a secret word to the grown-ups, so they can rush up to see him. The secret word is "food." * 7-Second Sumo - Spelling "Food" * Wigged Out - Feelings * Scene 2 - Pilchard decides to go back to the school to tell his kids about the plan, but Dodge is eager to get it underway and calls the grown-ups, thinking he can get them there before Pilchard leaves. He fails, however, and Ben tries to convince Dodge once again that Pilchard is just his imaginary friend, though Sid, Cerrie, and Pui insist that he's wrong. Ben suggests that Dodge find someone to help him so Pilchard doesn't run away. All of the grown-ups are too busy, so Ouchina volunteers to take the job. Phillip Schofield interviews the grown-ups about whether they think Dodge's favourite TV programme is silly or not. Cerrie, Pui, Sid, and Alex say it isn't silly, whereas Sam, Ben, Nisha and even Cat all think it is. Oucho doesn't care either way and says they're all wasting their time. Phillip suggests it doesn't matter whether it's silly or not and that they should simply agree to disagree about the situation. Suddenly, everyone hears Dodge yell "Food!" and they run to the loft bed, only to find Ouchina and Derek singing "Pilchard Loves You". Dodge claims that it was just practice and is satisfied that it worked. Sid and Cat, however, request for no more practicing. * Rock n' Roll Rhymes * Scene 3 - Dodge asks Ouchina to hang on to Pilchard's dino tail while he gets the grown-ups. Pilchard tries to wander away, but Ouchina hangs on even when Pilchard swings his tail around. The grown-ups and the kids hesitantly head into the house for a third time, while shouting "No More Purple Dinosaurs!". Overwhelmed by the excitement, Dodge goes back and forth on joining them and remarks about getting a strange feeling that he's losing an old friend. the grown-ups stand in stunned silence as they get their first look at Pilchard the Dinosaur. Dodge rejoices at the sight of the grown-ups finally seeing Pilchard, and gloats that they didn't believe him. Sid reminds him that he, Cerrie, and Pui believed him, but Dodge counters that the others didn't. Sam tells Dodge that he has a right to be angry for not being believed and apologizes. Ben and the others promise to believe Dodge whenever he tells them something. Pilchard quips "Maybe we should get that in writing." Dodge then introduces each of the grown-ups to Pilchard "Purple Dinosaur and Famous Children's Singer". * Scene 4 - After Pilchard has been introduced to all the grown-ups, Ouchina suggests a group hug, to which Phillip Schofield joins in. Pilchard says he’s playing racquetball with Big Bird tonight. Trivia * Sam reveals that he played with Pilchard as a young boy (a flashback is shown of Pilchard taking Sam in a wagon to the moon). As he grew older, he outgrew Pilchard, gave his Pilchard doll to a friend's daughter, and refused to believe he was real.